Guest Trying to Book House but Airbnb Isn’t Allowing Due to Covid-19 Help

[Colby16]

All, 

I have a neighbor who is trying to book my house for her family that live an hour away for the weekend of March 28th. AirBnb is declining their attempt to book my house or any other in the area. It is saying, “choose another place to stay. As part of our commitment to your safety, certain last-minute bookings of entire homes are restricted right now. You can still book a HOTEL or a private room for your stay”

I am quite confused on why a private room differs from an entire house rental. You still have most of the house during the private room. I had them try to book other houses and gave the same message. We are in Michigan and thought maybe it would be a travel restriction, but nothing.

Has anyone has this issue yet or spoken to customer service about it?

[Laura2592]

I DO NOT understand this. My cottage is in the middle of pretty much nowhere. There are neighbors but they have farmettes or lots that are an acre or two. One is a police officer and a nurse. There are chickens, a stream with potable water nearby, veggie gardens, no big gathering places in the area. Why on earth would that situation be deemed less desirable by Airbnb than a HOTEL where you are packing people in, in close quarters? It makes zero sense. What happened to "social distancing" and "gatherings of less than 50 people?" My cottage is perfect for both. 

Thus I just listed my open dates on VRBO. We will see what happens. Maybe its for the best that we move over to other entities for booking. I have not been overly impressed by Airbnb in our first year. 

[Helen350]

@Laura2592 Have you read what Susan17 wrote above? - It's a thought.......

[Laura2592]

@Helen350 yes, its very interesting. We shall see how these other booking sites go. I had been booked literally solid for weekends until September but have had cancellations like everyone else. After fighting with Airbnb for three months to get a pay out that THEY screwed up on, and reading how the company is fighting for its financial life, I don't trust that they have any interest in helping guests or hosts to make informed decisions in this time of mass panic. I have been lazy about trying other booking sites as we had so many reservations, but perhaps these cancellations are a blessing in disguise. 

[Rebecca1711]

I have a similar setup and Airbnb has blocked a booking…

Airbnb Party and Events Policy
Reservations associated with higher safety risks are restricted from last-minute booking of entire homes. Currently, we don’t have an option to remove the restriction, regardless of Host authorization. While this may be an inconvenience, you can still explore our hotel rooms.

I will also be moving to other booking websites!

[Bryce-and-Deba0]

@Susan17 I've just had my first experience with Airbnb sending a guest that is attempting to book one of my units saying that it is unsafe and that they cannot book there due to the virus. I've been on the phone for hours and am getting multiple different answers from customer service reps. It's unfortunate, the potential guest wants to book, but Airbnb is saying no and advising them to book a hotel instead. I don't know what to do. Any thoughts would be appreciated. 

[Susan17]

@Bryce-and-Deba0

I'm so sorry. I hate doing this sh*t, but you need to see conversations like the one below..

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Is-Airbnb-replacing-Hosts-with-Hotels/td-p/1273241

[Susan17]

@Bryce-and-Deba0

Also, my advice would be - if you feel reasonably OK with a potential guest.. go for it, and stick the cash in your arse pocket. Contrary to public opinion, Airbnb will give you little to no protection, should issues arise. 

[Bryce-and-Deba0 · Accepted solution]

@Susan17 Thanks for the link to the other conversations. The overall situation is very unfortunate.

One workaround that I've found to still allow guests to book is to have them book a few weeks after the dates they want and then change the reservation dates to the dates they actually prefer. It is a few more steps, but it worked every time I've done it.  

[Rebecca181]

Genius.

[Elisa-and-John0]

We had a guest who was trying to book our "entire apartment" listing and was being given that screenshot about trying Airbnb Hotel.

We switched our listing from "entire apartment" to "private room" and he was able to book.

There's your work-around.

[Quin338]

Just found out Airbnb is doing this.

That pretty much disqualifies me from using the site, despite hosting my own Arbnb's for 2 years.  I still can't book anything nearby and will just have to use VRBO

[Super47]

25/10/2020

More recent thread, with further up-to-date information on this topic.

"Back To Our Roots".. So Why Is Airbnb Promoting Hotels Over Homesharers? 
https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/quot-Back-To-Our-Roots-quot-So-Why-Is-Airbnb-Promoting-Hote...

[Ameriwhere-Inc0]

Nailed it!

[Dean620]

Same thing happened to me when someone wanting to rent this weekend my 1 bedroom .  THe reason was because it was Halloween and last minute They also suggested they get a hotel room !! To top it off it was a last minute cancellation they also gave a full refund to . Thinking of leaving airbnb for GOOD

[Ameriwhere-Inc0]

Airbnb is beginning to get so big and that its becoming worse than monster we ran from to be part of this. Super inconvenient. 

I got this message too:

As part of our commitment to your safety, certain last-minute bookings of entire homes are restricted right now. You can still book a HOTEL or a private room for your stay”

MY SAFETY... when was booking with a SUPERHOST unSafe?

I was booking a month away so how that last-minute?

The are creating horrible experiences.

SMH... strirring away from AIRBNB

This effects host too.